{"id":49701,"date":"2026-08-14T11:37:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49701"},"modified":"2026-08-14T11:37:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:37:48","slug":"outrageous-trump-officials-investigated-left-wing-groups-after-alex-pretti-killing-in-minneapolis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/08\/14\/outrageous-trump-officials-investigated-left-wing-groups-after-alex-pretti-killing-in-minneapolis\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Outrageous\u2019: Trump Officials Investigated Left-Wing Groups After Alex Pretti Killing in Minneapolis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Federal<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

People march during a protest after the killing of Renee Nicole Good on January 8, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Stephen Maturen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One First Amendment advocacy group called the investigation a \u201cdisturbing, invasive, and utterly unjustifiable attack on freedom of expression and political dissent.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aug 13, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are the actions of an authoritarian state,\u201d said<\/a> US Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Thursday regarding new reports of a broad investigation by the Department of Homeland Security into numerous left-wing groups in Minnesota earlier this year, in the wake of Border Patrol agents\u2019 fatal shooting<\/a> of Alex Pretti at a protest<\/a> against the agency\u2019s anti-immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As The New York Times<\/a> reported<\/a>, days after Pretti was killed in the street as he tried to help a woman who had been violently pushed by the agents, the DHS office in St. Paul opened an investigation into groups including the climate-focused Sunrise Movement<\/a>, major labor groups like the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU<\/a>), the Democratic Socialists of America, and a collective called Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Trump administration<\/a> began the probe under the auspices of investigating whether the groups had provided \u201chelp and money,\u201d as the Times reported, to people who had participated in protests<\/a> across the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where tens of thousands of residents rallied against US Immigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and defended their neighbors from immigration raids last winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newly released government documents, which were uncovered after an attorney filed a motion with the federal District Court in Minnesota demanding information about the DHS investigation, show that the agency characterized the protesters who opposed ICE as \u201cviolent opportunists and agitators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation included DHS\u2019 use of administrative subpoenas to obtain financial records from Sunrise Movement, Communications Workers<\/a> of America, and the SEIU, scrutinizing what the agency called \u201cdomestic terrorist financing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undercover agents also infiltrated Signal chats and meetings at libraries and churches, recording attendees\u2019 comments criticizing ICE and calling for the agency to be abolished\u2014a view held by roughly 50% of Americans, according to a recent poll by YouGov\u2014as well as their names and license plate numbers. They also scoured the individuals\u2019 social media<\/a> accounts for images and information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNone of these individuals did anything other than engage in protected First Amendment<\/a> speech in a church meeting room,\u201d wrote Kevin Riach, the lawyer who filed the motion. \u201cYet now their personal information is memorialized in a DHS dossier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation \u201cconcluded, with no evidence (but obvious political animus), that numerous Twin Cities unions<\/a> and nonprofit organizations were involved in a widespread conspiracy,\u201d said Riach. \u201cIt surveilled and surreptitiously gathered financial records generated by these organizations despite the lack of any connection between those organizations and criminal conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Times reported, the indictment in June of 15 organizers who led direct actions against federal agents, announced<\/a> by US Attorney Daniel Rosen, came out of the sprawling DHS investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Rosen announced the indictments, he cited National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), a memo issued last September and mandated a \u201cnational strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts\u201d\u2014with an exclusive focus on left-wing groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the indictment, the Times reported, investigators showed a PowerPoint slide<\/a> to grand jurors linking 18 groups including the AFL-CIO, Vets for Peace, and a local teachers union to a \u201cconspiracy\u201d against ICE agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news of the indictment, said Paul Blest of the labor rights media organization More Perfect Union, \u201cshould be the biggest story in America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/pblest\/status\/2087941992730763291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2087941992730763291%7Ctwgr%5E6422442a5ad8df2d234625f4e0fcc588419db82d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftrump-left-wing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust so everyone clearly understands, the Trump administration\u2019s approach to dissent is to exhaust every avenue to put dissenters in federal prison,\u201d said Blest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Amendment advocacy group Defending Rights and Dissent called<\/a> the investigation a \u201cdisturbing, invasive, and utterly unjustifiable attack on freedom of expression and political dissent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe inquiry comes amid President Trump\u2019s escalating crackdown on freedom of speech across the United States<\/a>,\u201d Defending Rights and Dissent added. \u201cLast year, Trump issued NSPM-7, a directive which tramples the First Amendment in weaponizing the federal government to root out his political adversaries and cast all activism<\/a> against the administration as \u2018domestic extremism<\/a>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDefending Rights and Dissent calls for this investigation to be dropped immediately,\u201d said the group, \u201cand strongly condemns all attempts by the Trump administration to intimidate ordinary Americans exercising their freedom of speech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People march during a protest after the killing of Renee Nicole Good on January 8, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  (Photo by Stephen Maturen\/Getty Images) One First Amendment advocacy group called the investigation a \u201cdisturbing, invasive, and utterly unjustifiable attack on freedom of expression and political dissent.\u201d Julia Conley Aug 13,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2004],"tags":[2380],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49702,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49701\/revisions\/49702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}